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There has been an outcry on the non-compliance of regulations and guidelines
pertaining to management of public funds in local governments in Tanzania. This has
been evidenced by various reports which have uncovered several weaknesses and
irregularities in public funds administration. This study therefore was put in place to
assess the management of public funds at lower level government (LLG) of
Tanzania. The study was conducted using a qualitative approach by employing a
holistic descriptive case study design in which Handeni District council (HDC) was
taken as the platform. Sampling units involved the village planning, economic and
finance committee members, village executive officers and district officers. Also,
analysis was done using both qualitative and quantitative techniques.
The study has found out that, revenue collection at village level in the study area are
done by using individual appointed collectors from within the villages. These
individuals are either paid salaries or commissions depending on their employment
status where in most cases costs of collection exceed actual revenues. Apart from
that, it has been uncovered that all the villages studied neither use the necessary
books of accounts prescribed by orders in place nor they prepare the required set of
financial reports prescribed. In fact, the study has revealed out a host of challenges
that impinge proper management of public funds at local governments’ level. These
include but not limited to long procurement process, long payment system, low level
of education on the side of the committee members and the community in general,
lack of books of accounts, lack of village offices and long distances from the villages
to the financial institutions.
Principally, the study recommends to the central government to undertake capacity
building to all Village Executive Officers and committee members on matters pertaining to public funds management. Apart from that, the government needs to
develop a reporting format to all village governments that can guide them in
preparing and presenting financial reports in a simple and timely manner.
Furthermore, the government is advised to harmonize revenue collection methods at
village levels by centralizing the collection at district council through the agents of
revenue collections already in place. |
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